Gulf Air Selects CFM56-5B Engines to Power A320 Fleet

MANAMA, BAHRAIN: Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air has chosen CFM56-5B engines to power 15 new Airbus A320 family aircraft scheduled for delivery between late 2009 and 2012.
The engines are the product of CFM International (CFM), a joint company between Snecma (SAFRAN Group) and General Electric Company, and the order is valued at US $270 million.
“Gulf Air is a long-time CFM customer and selecting this engine demonstrates our continued trust and confidence in this product’s excellent technical capability. It also demonstrates our long-standing relationship with CFM who has powered our existing A320 and A340 fleet with superior reliability,” says Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Mr. Bjorn Näf.
“The CFM manufactured engines are not new to Gulf Air; we have been operating CFM56-5A and -5B powered single-aisle Airbus A320 and long-range, four-engine CFM56-5C powered A340-300 aircraft for many years now and we know the product well,” concluded Mr. Näf.
“We are extremely honored to continue our long relationship with Gulf Air –our distinguished customer,” said Muhammad Al-Lamadani, CFM' s Senior Executive Sales for Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet Union).
"The high reliability and low operating costs of the CFM56-5B-powered A320s will help support Gulf Air’s long-term profitability, and the fleet will also benefit from our world-class customer and product support organization”.
All of Gulf Air's CFM56-5B engines are the Tech Insertion configuration. This configuration was introduced in September 2007 and, to date, the fleet of approximately 800 engines in service worldwide has logged nearly two million flight hours and more than 1 million flight cycles without a single engine-related event.
CFM56 Tech Insertion provides operators with a one percent improvement in fuel consumption over the life of the product, compared to the base CFM56-5B engine. This lower fuel consumption also lowers CO2, reducing emissions by 200 tons per aircraft per year. Improved analytic design tools have also enabled CFM to further optimize the Tech Insertion combustor such that it emits 25 percent lower NOx emissions. As a result, the engine meets the new International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Committee of Aviation Environmental Protection Standards (CAEP /6) that took effect in early 2008.
Over the engine's life cycle, Tech Insertion will also provide operators with longer time on wing and will lower maintenance costs between five and 12 percent, depending on the thrust rating. These benefits are achieved through improvements to the high-pressure compressor and the high- and low-pressure turbines.
28/04/09 PRESS RELEASE/Gulf Air

Read More

British Airways looks at non-equity alliance

New Delhi: British Airways (BA) on Tuesday said it is in talks with Indian carriers to forge an alliance, but will not make any equity investment in domestic airlines.
“We have held talks with Indian carriers, but talks so far have been inconclusive,” said Judy Jarvis, who has recently taken over as regional commercial manager, South Asia, British Airways.
She said talks are still on, but didn’t disclose the name of the potential partner and whether the airline is negotiating with a full service or a low-cost Indian carrier.
Ms Jarvis also declined to give details of the proposed partnership, but said it will not involve any equity investment by British Airways. At present, Indian rules don’t allow foreign airlines to hold equity in the domestic airlines or to operate in domestic routes directly. A government panel is currently considering the civil aviation ministry’s proposal to allow foreign airlines to hold up to 25% stake in domestic airlines.
Usually, a non-equity alliance between two airlines involve sharing of seats, complementing routes and technical collaboration, which together help airlines rationalise costs and offer fliers better value. In October, India’s two leading airlines, Jet Airways and Kingfisher, announced an alliance that would involve sharing seats, staff and infrastructure.
British Airways, one of the largest foreign airlines operating in India, recently pulled out of Kolkata, where it operated three international flights a week. Ms Jarvis said the company had no plans to further cut routes or flights, but is watching the market demand for reducing the number of seats being made available to the travellers to India. Following its exit from Kolkata, the company operates 45 flights a week from India.
29/04/09 Economic Times

Read More

Dozen wings to Dubai this winter

Calcutta: British Airways did not find it viable to operate even one flight a week from Calcutta but Emirates will fly a dozen a week from the city this winter.
The Dubai-based airline, which launched its operations in Calcutta in 2006 and now has a daily flight, will have two flights a day on five days of the week and one each on the other two days. The additional flights will start operating from the first week of December.
This is the first time that Calcutta will have “regular double daily flights” to any international destination. One flight will take off from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at 8.30pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and arrive in Dubai at 12.30am. The other flight will operate daily, taking off at 8.55am and arriving in Dubai at 12.55pm.
The seven Calcutta flights are said to be recording an 80 per cent-plus average passenger load, on the wings of the withdrawal of British Airways and Gulf Air.
Emirates sources said the airline would be able to add the extra flights after acquiring a new aircraft in December. To lure passengers, the airline is also offering pick-up and drop for first class and business class passengers.
Calcutta airport officials were upbeat with the news of Emirates increasing frequency.
29/04/09 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

Read More

Air staffer grounded for extortion

Mumbai: An Etihad Airways staffer was arrested by the airport police on Monday for not only allowing a passenger with a forged passport to board the flight but also extorting money from him. Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.
According to police officials, this could help them to unearth another human trafficking racket; two Air India staffers were held by the crime branch for human trafficking in March. This is the second time an Etihad official has been arrested for irregularities (the first time, an official was held for `alleged' human trafficking in 2008).
The matter came to light when a passenger, Shyamlal Chand, was deported from Abu Dhabi on Monday and revealed the role of Sanjiv Kumar Gupta, an airline official, in allowing him to board the flight even though he had a false passport. Gupta works as a security agent for the airline and had `allegedly' asked Chand for an additional $200 to allow the latter to board the Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-Ireland flight. The passenger had managed to sneak in through the immigration counter at Mumbai airport.
"The role of the airline official was detected because the passenger was sent back from Abu Dhabi for travelling on a forged passport. The passenger has been detained and the airline official has also been held,'' senior inspector Dilip Patil said. "This could lead us to a bigger racket as we have always suspected the involvement of airline officials in human trafficking,'' he added.
29/04/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

Read More

Don't travel to US, UK, Delhi warns citizens

New Delhi: India on Monday put its airports and seaports on high alert after the outbreak of swine influenza-A in parts of the world.
Over 5,000 passengers entering India from affected countries will be scanned daily for flu-like symptoms, while efforts are on to track people who have already entered from infected countries over the past 10 days.
After a health ministry and animal husbandry department's joint monitoring committee meeting, the government prepared a detailed plan to prevent and contain an outbreak. The government issued a travel advisory, asking Indians to "restrict or defer non-essential visits" to Mexico, US, UK, Spain, France, Canada and New Zealand -- the countries affected by swine flu.
Dr VN Katoch, director general, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said, "There is no infection in India so far. All measures are being taken."
He said: "Doctors will work round-the-clock at nine busy airports to screen travellers [from the affected countries]. We have alerted airlines to inform passengers to carry a fitness certificate with them. Passengers suspected to be infected with any flu will be isolated and tested for the H1N1 virus."
Over 40 specially trained doctors have been deputed to Delhi and Mumbai airports, as they handle bulk of the international traffic. However, in the absence of body temperature scanning machines, officials acknowledge it will be a chaotic exercise.
28/04/09 Vineeta Pandey/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

Emirates continues to offer five per cent commission

Mumbai: Gulf-based Emirates Airlines recently announced that it will continue to offer commission to agents in India at the existing rate of five per cent. The move brings in a twist to the battle between agents and airlines keen to cut costs.
Hundreds of travel agents have taken to the streets, protesting against the decision of airlines to phase out commissions. Travel agents early this month returned sales authorisation letters given by Singapore Airlines to protest against the withdrawal of commission.
Timothy C Clark, President, Emirates Airlines said that agents were handling distribution on behalf of airlines and it was not fair to expect them to charge a fee from customers rather than charging a commission to airlines. “The fundamental concept is that when somebody does a job for you, you look after the person in a reasonable and fair manner. They (agents) are taking a huge chunk of your (airlines) cost of sale away from you. They have a margin above their costs and you are happy with the money they bring,” opined Clark. Commenting on Emirates Airlines move where they doubled commission in the UK when a rival carrier scrapped commissions to agents Clark said, “It worked to our (Emirates) advantage in a big way but the advantage did not last long because competition then adjusted their policy.”
Emirates' decision to continue with five per cent commission to agents may give a jolt to Singapore Airlines, which has so far failed to reach any agreement with travel agents to end the deadlock.
26/04/09 TravelBizMonitor

Read More

Sonia Gandhi critical of BJP leaders role during Kandhar episode

Kheralu village (Gujarat): Congress President Sonia Gandhi continued to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Kandhar plane hijack episode of December, 1999.
She assailed the role of leaders of the BJP during the issue while addressing a huge election rally here on Friday. Sonia charged the then Foreign Minister and Home Minister under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government for misleading the country by issuing contradictory statements on the Kandhar issue. L K Advani was Minister of Home while Jaswant Singh was the Foreign Minister in the BJP-led NDA Government when the flight from Kathmandu was hijacked in mid-air on the eve of X'mas in 1999 and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
However, on Friday, a leading Indian daily newspaper had featured an interview with Jaswant Singh, presently contesting as a candidate of the BJP from Darjeeling in West Bengal, in which he said that Advani and another Minister Arun Shourie had opposed the cabinet's decision in handling the hijack. In his autobiography, Advani is quoted as saying he was unaware of the government's move to free the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft taking these two contradictory aspects, Sonia questioned the integrity of the BJP leaders.
Five armed men had hijacked the Airbus A-300 with 189 passengers and crew on board and enroute the aircraft had touched down in western India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Kandhar in Afghanistan.
The hijackers killed one passenger during the week-long suspense but the remaining passengers and crew walked free after India released three Kashmir separatist militants from jail.
25/04/09 Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

Read More

Kingfisher to launch Kolkata-Dhaka flight from May 15

Mumbai: Domestic air-carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, has plans to launch its Kolkata-Dhaka flight from May 15, an airline official said.
“We will be launching our first flight to Dhaka from Kolkata on May 15,” Kingfisher Airlines’s spokesperson told PTI here.
Dhaka would be the third overseas destination after London and Colombo for the Vijay Mallya-owned air-carrier, which already has the Government’s permission to fly across 13 international routes.
The airline has deployed an ATR 72-500 (60-seater) for the Kolkata-Dhaka flight which would run daily, the spokesperson said.
The flight IT-73 would leave Kolkata at 2.45 pm (local time) and arrive at Dhaka at 4.15 pm (local time), he said. The return flight would take-off from Dhaka at 5.00 pm and land at Kolkata airport at 5.30 pm.
26/04/09 Press Trust of India/Hindustan Times

Read More

Man flew in from Delhi abandons suitcase with drugs in Malaysian airport

Kuala Lumpur: An alleged smuggler who flew in from New Delhi nonchalantly walked out of a Malaysian airport leaving behind a suitcase with 25 kgs of drugs, after sensing that he was being watched.
The incident occurred at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport where customs officers found a suitcase containing 25 kg of ketamine worth around Rs 13 lakh. The officers found the suitcase at the arrival hall in which the drugs were packed in 25 packets labelled as food supplements.
The daily did not identify the nationality or the identity of the alleged smuggler.
24/04/09 PTI/Indopia

Read More

Emirates may increase flights to 10 Indian destinations

Premier Gulf carrier Emirates may increase frequencies to its 10 Indian destinations in the next six months and has renewed its interest in investing in ground handling and other allied services along with its sister concern Dnata, its top executive said here.
"We are probably going to increase frequencies into the 10 points we operate in the next six months. ... We will plan it (growth plans) out in the next few months," Emirates President Tim Clark said on the sidelines of a travel and tourism conference.
Emirates operates to the four metros, besides those of Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kozhikode, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram.
Asked whether Emirates would be interested in investing in ground handling or other aviation activities, he said "if opportunities exist, if the policies are changed to favour foreign investments in airline activities, all global airlines including us will probably be interested."
"We will continue to look at ground handling and other opportunities in India. Our sister concern Dnata is keen to set up something new," the Emirates chief said.
However, Clark, like representatives of other foreign carriers, wanted the high landing, parking and navigation charges to be reduced and said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had already raised the issue with the Indian government.
The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) "must not waste any time but deal with the problems (relating to high charges) urgently", Clark said.
He added that aviation has always been a "milch cow" for governments worldwide but the charges should not be so high as to compromise the bottomelines of the aviation industry.
23/04/09 PTI/Times of India

Read More

Russia launches military transport plane project

Moscow: The Russian government has allocated an initial $64 million to part finance a joint project with India to develop a new military transport plane, a defence industry official said on Thursday.
Russia and India signed an intergovernmental agreement on the joint development of a multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) in 2007. The cost of the $600-million project is being equally shared by the two countries.
The transport plane, with a 20-tonne cargo capacity, is expected to go in service with the Russian and Indian air forces in about eight years, said Viktor Livanov, general director of the Ilyushin Design Bureau..
The Russian participants in the project include the Ilyushin Design Bureau and the Irkut Corporation, which is part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) created in 2006. State-owned aircraft manufacturing company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is representing India in the project.
23/04/09 Hindustan Times

Read More

Air India Express to launch Chennai-Abu Dhabi flight

Chennai: Air India Express, the budget airline of Air India, on Thursday announced the launch of its new biweekly service on Chennai-Abu Dhabi-Chennai sector from April 30.
Abu Dhabi is the fifth destination being connected to Chennai by the airline, a Air India release here said.
"With the introduction of this new service from Chennai via Tiruchirappalli to Abu Dhabi, Air India Express would increase the present 21 flights per week to 23 with effect from April 30," it said.
Air India Express would operate the new service on Thursdays and Saturdays with a capacity of 185 economy class seats.
The flight would leave Chennai at 12.50 pm and reach Abu Dhabi (via Tiruchirapalli) at 5 pm.In return direction, the flight would leave Abu Dhabi at 6.20 pm and arrive in Chennai (via Tiruchirapalli) at 1.40 am.
23/04/09 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

China Eastern Airlines to begin daily service to India

Kolkata: China Eastern Airlines, which operates flights from Delhi and Kolkata to Shanghai and Kunming would increase its number of flights from India.
"The state-owned Chinese Airlines would begin daily service from Kolkata to Kunming located at Yunan province, which currently stands at four flights a week," China Eastern Airlines Kolkata operations General Manager Li Ji told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with members of Indian Chamber of Commerce.
"Later, we have plans to increase the frequency of Delhi- Shanghai flight from present three flights a week,"he said.
China Eastern started direct flights between Kolkata and Kunming, a major tourist destination in October 2007.
22/04/09 Indopia

Read More

China, India seeking increased air links

In recent years, the relationship between Asian giants China and India has gradually shifted from vocal distrust to guarded optimism. With the political thaw between the two countries, an economic relationship has grown rapidly – in 2002 bilateral trade was a mere US$2 billion, last year that number surpassed US$51 billion.
As China and India continue to open up to each other, the lack of sufficient transportation links is hampering trade and tourism. With both countries eager to increase interconnectivity, Kunming is emerging as China's de facto gateway to India.
Beginning in June, China Eastern Airlines will increase its flight services between Kunming and Kolkata, capital of eastern India's West Bengal state, from four to seven flights weekly, according to Indian media reports. Li Ji, general manager of China Eastern's Kolkata operations, told reporters in India that more flights will be added to the Shanghai-New Delhi route, which currently has only three flights weekly.
Li said increasing tourism between the two countries was the driving force behind the decision to increase flight services. At present, China Eastern flights between the two countries have full occupancy, he added.
22/04/09 GoKunming

Read More

Gulf Air clarifies reports regarding Boeing 777 lease agreement with Jet Airways

With reference to some recent media reports stating that Gulf Air has canceled its Boeing 777 lease agreement with Jet Airways.
Gulf Air wishes to clarify as follows:
The lease agreement signed between Jet Airways and Gulf Air was for an initial period of 6 months on a wet lease. Some coverage has claimed that the decision to continue with a dry lease after the 6 month wet lease has been canceled. This is not correct as no such agreement existed.
Under the terms of the current agreement Gulf Air has an option to sign a new agreement for a dry lease after the expiration of the wet lease but this was subject to several business considerations including market conditions.
After careful analysis of various commercial and other business considerations, Gulf Air has decided not pursue the dry lease option for the foreseeable future.
22/04/09 AME Info

Read More

Gulf Air cancels Jet aircraft lease

Manama: Gulf Air has scrapped a longer-term agreement to lease new aircraft only weeks after the deal was announced, throwing the airline's global expansion plans into doubt, according to Middle East business magazine MEED.
The Bahraini national carrier will cancel its deal to lease four long-range Boeing 777 ER aircraft from Indian carrier Jet Airways after just six months.
Gulf Air agreed in February to take the aircraft on a wet-lease basis for six months, which includes the provision of pilots.
The carrier originally planned to follow the initial six-month lease with a three-year dry lease, during which Gulf Air would pilot the planes itself, according to the magazine. Only the wet lease period of the deal will now be honoured.Gulf Air has made no official announcement about the lease cancellation.
The company declined to comment further on the deal, it added.
'Gulf Air is continually reviewing its fleet requirements based on the continually evolving market conditions and planned route expansion,' the company says in a statement to MEED.
'At this stage, we cannot comment on specific fleet plans.' The 777s were intended to help Gulf Air phase its ageing A340s out of service.
21/04/09 Trade Arabia

Read More

Nepal to resume direct flights to Mumbai

Kathmandu: First, there was a steady stream of visits to Kathmandu by Mumbai’s glitterati, including Shabana Azmi, Govinda, Sukhwinder Singh and Daler Mehndi.Now Nepal’s tourism ministry has decided to cash in on the interest shown in Nepal by Mumbai-ites by announcing direct Kathmandu-Mumbai flights from May 1.
The state carrier, Nepal Airlines, will now make the trip twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. A two-way ticket will cost NRS 20,000 ($250) exclusive of taxes while for the first three months the airline is offering a discount of NRS 2,000.
The two-hour-plus flight will take off from Kathmandu at 1.45 p.m. In the past, the state carrier had operated the flight from 1992 to 2007. But it was discontinued due to the low volume of visitors as Nepal passed through a period of political turbulence.
Now with the Maoist insurgency that killed over 13,000 people having ended and the new Maoist-led government trying to boost tourism, new Tourism Minister Hisila Yami has announced that the national carrier would in future start direct flights to seven other Indian cities.
21/04/09 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

Read More

ADAC scoops award for airline marketing

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has been announced the winner of the prestigious Routes Airport Marketing Award for the Middle East. The awards were presented at the Routes Asia forum in Hyderabad, India in front of over 250 delegates from airlines, airports and other aviation organisations.
The Routes Airport Marketing Award is presented to airports in recognition of excellence in air service development and airline marketing. Voting is carried out by airlines themselves, which ensures the awards give a true reflection of the quality and impact of an airport’s marketing activities. The final decision is made by a panel of industry experts, which review the shortlisted entrants’ marketing activities from the previous 12 months and the results of those activities.
Areas under scrutiny include key initiatives the airport has undertaken to attract new airlines, launch new routes and continue to develop relationships with existing airline partners, and the airport’s efforts to market itself to its catchments area and drive traffic onto new routes. The also include innovation in the airport’s marketing approach, and results achieved, such as new routes launched and traffic growth.
21/04/09 Al Bawaba

Read More

Man held with forged passport

Kolkata: Emigration officials at NSC Bose Airport today held an Indian resident, who was born in China and later took Canadian citizenship, for travelling with a forged passport. A page of the passport was also torn. Mr Peh Chee Chiu (38) resided in Tangra area and left for Canada in 1990. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 1993. In 2004, he came to India with a Canadian passport with two years visa. In 2006, he renewed the visa for another two years which expired last year. He tried to renew his Canadian passport from Delhi but his appeal was rejected. With Canadian passport having become invalid, he managed to procure an Indian passport on a Tatkal basis. While he was trying to go to Hong Kong via Bangkok early this morning, emigration officials detected some discrepancy in the passport and started questioning him. Initially pleading innocence, the man later broke down and confessed to having procured the forged passport. He was handed over to the police.
20/04/09 The Statesman

Read More

Saudi Arabian Airlines expands to India

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabian Airlines began service with three flights per week to three destinations in India from the end of March.
The airline is now operating two flights per week from Riyadh to Bangalore, four flights per week to Calicut and three flights per week to Lucknow.
The airline operates 757s on the service. The additions bring the number of flights from Saudi Arabia to eight stations in India.
In other news, Saudi Arabian Airlines has begun a modernization of its fleet and recently unveiled its first new refurbished 777. The airline plans to renovate 21 of its aircraft. Modifications include new leather seats, entertainment systems and onboard mobile phone capability. In first class, passenger will have 15.4-inch entertainment screens, in business class, passengers will have 12.1-inch screens and 8.9-inch screens in economy class.
20/04/09 Hibah Noor/Gulf Africa Duty Free/Business Intelligence Middle East

Read More

Emirates takes you on a journey through India

Emirates is advancing its service on Indian routes with the launch of its unique “Journey Through India” campaign.
Focussing on three crucial elements – inflight food and beverage; inflight product; and cabin crew management – the programme seeks to ensure the airline exceeds the expectations of its Indian passengers through regionalisation of the product on Indian routes.
Initiatives under the “Journey Through India” campaign are featuring on Emirates flights to Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calicut, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram.
The menu on all routes and in all classes has been created to meet the regional preferences of Indian travellers. In addition it has been strengthened with a greater presence of Indian dishes, especially vegetarian options, while western dishes continue to be offered to cater to the global tastes of travellers.
In all classes, route specific mini savouries prior to meal service and after meal Indian digestives have been introduced. Advancements in the First and Business class menu include a choice of three hors d’oeuvres with Indian options.
In Economy class a bar service has been introduced prior to the meal, which in itself has been boosted with a choice of two Indian and one Western dish. All passengers are served a welcome drink.
Inflight entertainment has also been regionalised and now offers route specific boarding music and reading material. Emirates’ patented and award-winning ice (Information, Communication and Entertainment) system that offers over 600 channels of entertainment is now offered on more Indian routes than previously.
20/04/09 The Malta Independent

Read More

TIMCO, HAL Announce MRO JV In India

A new joint venture plans to open a facility for Airbus and Boeing narrowbody aircraft MRO in India, although its opening date is not yet defined. Partners TIMCO Aviation Services and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. say they will wait until they see enough demand for a sustainable business in heavy aircraft MRO. "Both partners have agreed to take a pause on the start up until the market and economic outlook clarifies," said Gene House, TIMCO's executive VP and chief marketing officer. Waiting for India's fairly new fleet of commercial aircraft to age is a big factor.
The JV between TIMCO and HAL combines the MRO's heavy maintenance and Lean processes experience with Hindustan Aeronautics' in-country presence and manufacturing and repair capabilities. The facilities will be collocated with HAL's manufacturing complex at Bangalore airport.
Several aviation entities have announced intentions to pursue the burgeoning Indian MRO market, although they generally are materializing slowly as Indian fleet ramps up.
20/04/09 Lee Ann Tegtmeier/Aviation Week

Read More

Chemicals on AI plane put 114 lives at risk

New Delhi: The recent smuggling of 210 litres of acetic anhydride on an Air India flight to Kabul not only exposed the chinks in India’s airport security but also put the lives of 114 passengers at risk as the banned chemical is known to be highly combustible.
In a mockery of the stringent security measures put in place at all airports, the consignment passed through Customs scanners at Indira Gandhi International Airport and was loaded onto Air India’s flight IC-843 to Kabul on March 22 along with luggage and other shipment.
Initial investigation has revealed scary details. A highly corrosive and inflammable substance, acetic anhydride was concealed in consignments of clothes and medicines along with luggage of passengers — turning the Air India flight virtually into a flying coffin. Even a small leakage of the substance could have triggered a blast.
Sources said acetic anhydride, if it comes in contact with water, causes blast. The acid, used to refine opium into high-grade heroin, was smuggled into Afghanistan despite an alert issued by Kabul.
The Air India flight, besides the luggage of passengers, had five consignments that included more than 1,500 kg of apparel, 2,000 kg of medicines and 300 kg of printed matter. Given the high-priority attached to security of passenger aircraft and a host of anti-hijacking measures deployed by the government after the Kandahar incident, the smuggling of acetic anhydride by the official carrier has come as a big blow to the security apparatus.
It is quite surprising that Customs’ high-density scanners could not detect the huge pack of highly inflammable chemical when even a small bottle of deodorant is identified and not allowed to be carried in hand baggage, a senior home ministry official said.
In fact, Kabul had alerted New Delhi just a month ago to take preventive steps to ensure that no drug precursor was sent to Afghanistan as there was no legitimate use of that chemical on its land. The alert had the undertone of a warning as Kabul believes that part of the acid used by drug traffickers in Afghanistan to refine opium into heroin is smuggled from India besides other sources such as the CIS countries and Pakistan.
20/04/09 Pradeep Thakur/Times of India

Read More

More Indian Cities For AirAsia In 2009

Bangkok: Low-cost carrier AirAsia is making huge expansion in Asia this year, flying to at least six more cities in India, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Taipei from either Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok.
According to industry sources, the airline is expected to start the Kuala Lumpur-Taipei route in June and Kuala Lumpur-Colombo sector in August.
"More destinations will be added, both in India and China, once new planes arrive. There will be new destinations from both Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok," the sources said.
Thai AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Tassapon Bijleveld confirmed recently that Thailand's popular resort island Phuket would become the airline's second hub in the Kingdom after Bangkok.
He, however, declined to disclose the planned routes although it is believed that Hong Kong would be the first destination.
From September onwards, AirAsia, voted the best low-cost carrier by London-based consultancy group, Skytrax, is expected to fly to Chennai and Hyderabad from Bangkok once Thai AirAsia receives more new Airbus from its European maker.
The sources said AirAsia's long-haul airline, AirAsia X, is likely to fly to several more routes from Kuala Lumpur to India, namely its capital New Delhi, business hub Mumbai, IT City Bangalore, Amritsar in Punjab and Kochi, the second biggest city in Kerala.
20/04/09 D. Arul Rajoo/Bernama

Read More

Slowdown may impact new orders: Boeing, Airbus

Hyderabad: Boeing and Airbus, the two aircraft manufacturers, have said that the slowdown would have an impact on new orders in India.
The slowdown would not have an impact on the existing orders and backlogs. But it certainly would have an impact on the new orders, Mr Ajay Mehra, Managing Director of Airbus (South Asia), and Mr Larry Coughlin, Managing Director of Boeing (India), told Business Line.
The Boeing and Airbus executives were here on Saturday to take part in the inaugural of an international conference on the challenges and opportunities the aviation industry faced in the subcontinent, organised by Srinidhi Institute of Technology.
Mr Larry Coughlin said the near-term outlook for the industry globally was bleak, with IATA projecting a fall of 5.7 per cent in passenger traffic, 13 per cent in cargo and 12 per cent reduction of revenues this year.
Stating that the global industry was in “intensive care”, he said the world needed 29,400 new aircraft in the next 20 years. Quoting Boeing’s Current Market Oulook for 2008, he said while 12,500 aircraft would be needed for replacement, the remaining aircraft would be inducted to support the growth.
“Of this, India would require 1,001 aircraft – 880 to support the demand and 121 for replacements, the remaining being retained fleet.
18/04/09 Business Line

Read More

Drug precursor seized from AI plane

New Delhi: In what could be a major embarrassment for the government here, Afghanistan has seized 210 litres of acetic anhydride, used for processing heroin, from an Air India flight that took off from New Delhi.
The quantum of the seized chemical is enough to produce more than 200 kg of heroin. Acetic anhydride is used to refine opium into high-grade heroin, which is pushed into international market and the proceeds used for funding Al Qaida and Taliban.
The seizure from India's official carrier, which was made on March 22, led the Hamid Karzai government to lodge a strong protest with India, sources said. For the contraband to reach Kabul on board India's official carrier is puzzling because the narco smugglers behind the operation managed to get past surveillance agencies, which had been alerted against the strong possibility of such an operation taking place.
Afghanistan had, just a month ago, alerted New Delhi to take preventive steps to ban export of the chemical as there was no legitimate use of the chemical in the war-ravaged nation.
Based on Kabul's request and an advisory from the UN's International Narcotics Control Bureau, the government had issued an alert on March 6 to all its intelligence and anti-narcotics agencies to check any diversion of the chemical to Afghanistan.
The seizure has also raised questions about the security apparatus as a whole, with authorities grappling with the fear of collaboration of government functionaries.
18/04/09 Pradeep Thakur/Times of India

Read More

Delta won’t route calls to India

Delta Air Lines Inc. has stopped routing reservation calls to India, citing complaints from customers.
The Atlanta-based airline is instead sending calls to its own U.S.-based call centers. Delta made the change in the first quarter of the year, but announced the move to employees late Thursday.
In a message to employees, Delta CEO Richard Anderson noted that, “customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low, and our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback.” Travelers have complained India-based staff are hard to understand, he said.
Delta will keep call centers in South Africa and Jamaica, but may cut stuff at those offices. Delta is the largest airline flying out of the Dayton International Airport.
17/04/09 Dayton Business Journal

Read More

I had opposed the release of militants in Kandahar: Omar

New Delhi: In the midst of the Congress blasting BJP over handling of the Kandahar hijack episode, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that he had "opposed" the release of the militants in the 1999 incident.
"I opposed it and I (had) said this is going to be very costly and we will pay a heavy price in days to come and we did," Abdullah, whose party NC was part of the NDA regime during the hijack, said.
Comparing the Kandahar hijack case with the 1989 kidnap of PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's daughter Rubaiya, he said, "I think I regret many things".
"I regret what was done when there was a different government and they released five militants for the daughter of Mr Mufti Sayeed. Did we not have bent down before them, it would not have sold the nation (and that) we could not stand against them".
"So the same thing happened again. It was repeated when those people were taken to Kandahar. We are all responsible for that".
Abdullah also took a swipe at the media for its coverage of the protests by relatives of the hostages in the Indian Airlines plane.
Abdullah was J and K Chief Minister when IC-814 was hijacked and taken to Kandahar.
17/04/09 Kashmirlive.com

Read More

Jet Airways enhances connectivity into Europe

Mumbai: Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, has expanded its code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines to add the European cities of Marseille, Toulouse, Geneva and Vienna to its existing international network. Additionally current services on the Brussels-Lyon sector have been enhanced from three to six flights weekly.
With this agreement, Jet Airways will further enhance connectivity between India and Europe by offering travellers convenient and seamless connections between Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai in India, and twelve European code-share destinations, including Birmingham, Barcelona, Lyon, Madrid, Berlin, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Manchester, Hamburg, Marseille Toulouse, Geneva and Vienna via Jet Airways’ European hub in Brussels. Jet Airways also offers European travellers unmatched pan-India connectivity with a 45-destination strong domestic network.
Jet Airways flies daily to Brussels from the three Indian gateway cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. In addition, the airline also offers daily, direct services to London from Mumbai and Delhi.
According to Mr. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways, “Besides widening Jet Airways’ presence in the European market, the code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines has enabled both airlines to leverage each other’s network strengths and service quality to significantly boost air travel on the Indo-European sector.”
17/04/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Read More

SuperJet International receives “EASA/ENAC-PART 145” Certificate

SuperJet International - the regional jet marketing, customization, and support Company for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional aircraft – has received certification “EASA/ENAC-PART 145” – Certificate Number IT.145.0332 – from ENAC (Italian Aeronautical Civil Authority).
The Certificate allows SuperJet International to carry out aircraft maintenance, completion and
customization activities. The installation of the aircraft’s interiors and optional equipment will be
accomplished at the SuperJet International maintenance base in Venice, Italy, by a team of
professional and experienced engineers.
The PART 145 certification is an important step forward in the SJI certification process and ensures a growing ability to perform line maintenance as well as outstanding level of services in the field of aircraft customization.
“This is another major goal reached by the Company” – said Alessandro Franzoni, Chief Executive Officer of SuperJet International – “We are now working towards obtaining the EASA/ENAC-PART 147, necessary for SJI’s training activities, and the DOA (Design Organization Approval), essential to the design and development of VIP and cargo variants on the platform of the Sukhoi Superjet 100, by the end of 2009”.
With this Certification, SuperJet International will have the capacity to carry out the line-maintenance on A320 aircraft at Venice Airport, while waiting to start the activities on the Sukhoi Superjet 100.
Further line-maintenance collaborations with other major airlines could be developed in the future.
16/04/09 PRESS RELEASE/Superjet International

Read More

Foreign airlines pull out of India

New Delhi: A severe squeeze on margins has prompted leading international airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, Sri Lankan Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Delta, KLM, Syrian Airlines, Aeroflot, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Finnair to withdraw over 100 flights in the last six months.
Rising airport charges (although they are falling globally), the growing gap between fuel costs in India and globally, pressure from travel agents threatening to boycott ticket sales and a 20 per cent fall in inbound premium passenger travel have forced international carriers to reduce their exposure in the country.
According to estimates by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), international carriers’ margins have dropped to single digits and even turned negative in some cases, from 10 to 20 per cent early last year.
European carriers, which carry a large proportion of outbound Indian passengers to the US and Canada, have been hit the hardest.
KLM pulled out of Hyderabad last October and operates only to Mumbai and Delhi currently. The airline has no plans to deploy additional flights to India for the time being. Its partner Air France recently pulled out of Chennai. KLM will deploy 5 per cent less capacity in India this summer against last summer.
Singapore Airlines has cut capacity 11 per cent globally but the India cuts at 19 per cent are far steeper. The number of weekly flights is down from 55 last year to 45.
Singapore Airlines has also been hit by the travel agents’ protests, since the agents, who account for 70 to 80 per cent of ticket sales, have stopped selling the airline’s tickets in India because it is not paying them commissions.
For Virgin, 80 per cent of its traffic flies from India to London and the rest to north Atlantic routes like the US. Experts said all these segments had been adversely affected.
An executive from a European carrier that recently pulled out of Mumbai said costs in India had definitely risen more than they had in other countries.
17/04/09 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

Read More

Was Homi Bhabha's plane hit by Italian aircraft?

Mumbai: On January 24, 1966, Air India flight AI 101 Mumbai-Paris crashed on Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps on the border of France and Italy.
Amongst the 117 passengers killed was noted nuclear scientist Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha. Although the world believes the aircraft crashed, Daniel Roche, an aviation enthusiast who has spent five years researching and collecting the remnants of the plane from Mont Blanc, says the plane was hit by an Italian military aircraft or a missile.
Roche, 57, a property consultant in Lyon, France, has collected about three tonne of parts of the two Air India (AI) aircraft that crashed into the glacier of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps (4,810 m or 15,781 feet).
One was the propeller aircraft Malabar Princess, which crashed in 1950, and the other was the Boeing 707 Kanchenjunga. "While the parts of Malabar Princess were found around one spot, those of Kanchenjunga were found scattered around a 25 km range," he says.
Roche says that while the Malabar Princess is a clear case of a crash, the Kanchenjunga was hit by an Italian military aircraft or a missile. "If Kanchenjunga had crashed in the mountain, there should have been huge fire and explosion as there was 41,000 tonne of fuel in the aircraft, but that was not the case. Just two minutes before the crash, the aircraft was at 6,000 feet above the ground. According to me, it collided with an Italian aircraft and as there is very little oxygen at that height, there was no combustion that could cause an explosion," he says.
During his excavations in the Mont Blanc glacier, he found the black box of the aircraft, the pilot's manual, a camera, jewellery, and other belongings of the passengers that had over the last 40 years sunk some 8 km into the glacier and descended down the mountainside.
Talking about his suspicion of the Italian plane, he says, "There were news reports that time about an Italian aircraft that had gone missing the same day. There are chances that it collided into the aircraft.I managed to find a fuel tank of the Italian plane with inscriptions on it," he says.
"I do not know whether it was a conspiracy or what as Bhabha was going to give India its first nuclear bomb, which the nuclear powers of that time did not want," he says. "..I feel that it is my duty to tell the truth to the world based on the evidence. If the Indian govern-
ment wants, I am ready to hand over the documents and the belongings of the passengers to them..." he says.
16/04/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

Chidambaram questions Advani's role during Kandahar hijacking

Mumbai: Questioning L K Advani's role as Home Minister during Kandahar hijacking, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said he would not have allowed release of terrorists as done by the NDA regime.
"If I was the Home Minister I would not accept...I will not say after four years I do not know whether the External Affairs Minister accompanied the terrorists," Mr. Chidambaram said at a press conference here, when asked about the Kandahar episode.
Mr. Advani had claimed that he was not aware of the decision that then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh would accompany the three terrorists released in exchange for passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1999.
"I would have told the Prime Minister not to allow the External Affairs Minister to accompany the terrorists", he told reporters here tearing into the arguments of the saffron party that UPA failed to contain terrorism.
BJP has come under flak from the Congress for having freed three terrorists, including militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar, during the Kandahar hijacking.
15/04/09 PTI/The Hindu

Read More

Congress claims NDA paid five crore dollars to end Kandahar hijacking

Mumbai: Congress leader Rajiv Shukla has claimed that the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government paid five crore US dollars to end the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines plane in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in January 2000.
Shukla claimed that the amount was paid to Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Maulana Azhar Masood in exchange for the nearly 200 passengers taken hostage in December 1999.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, All India Congress Committee spokesman Rajiv Shukla said: "Was (Gujarat CM) Narendra Modi aware of the release of Maulana Azhar Masood and Jaswant Singh accompanying him with a booty of five crore US dollars?"
He alleged Masood used the money to set up the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group and armed it to attack Parliament, Askhardham and Raghunath temples. hukla asked Modi if he approved of senior BJP leader L. K. Advani going to the mazar of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, which no Congress leader ever visited, and "prostrating before it and calling him a secular leader and a great visionary".
BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar denied knowledge about any money given to the terrorists as alleged by Shukla.
15/04/09 Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

Read More

SITA appoints new regional vice president for South Asia and India

New Delhi: SITA, the specialist provider of IT solutions to the air transport industry, today announced the appointment of Damian Hickey as Regional Vice President, South Asia and India.
Damian joins SITA from Amadeus where, as Vice President, Airline Business Group Asia Pacific, he was responsible for Amadeus’ airline distribution and IT businesses in the region. From Dublin, Ireland, he commenced his career in Singapore with Westinghouse’s air travel products division. He later progressed to senior management roles in Wescan/Northrup Grumman in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa and North America where he
drove the internet-based product line of business before joining travel distribution software company Datalex as SVP Commercial and General Manager, Asia Pacific.
Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA said: “We are delighted that Damian Hickey is going to lead our team in South Asia and India. His extensive aviation industry expertise will be a valuable asset in working with our customers there as they seek to strengthen and develop their businesses.”
SITA has a long history and presence in this region with over 400 customers, including airlines, airports, GDSs, governments and ground handlers, and over 590 employees in 28 countries providing services to the air transport industry. In 2009, the company celebrates 60 years in business and recently was named by Frost & Sullivan, as Airport Support Service Provider of the Year in the region. Hickey, who has an honours degree in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin, joins a team of
over 400 air transport specialists based at SITA’s regional headquarters in Singapore.
15/04/09 PRESS RELEASE/SITA

Read More

Travel bookings for IPL take off

New Delhi: With four days left for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to kick off, travel bookings
for South Africa, which were initially slow, seem to have picked up. Bookings are largely being driven by corporate travellers, according to travel companies, even as tour operators lock horns to garner volumes through a price war.
“Nearly 70% of the bookings have come from corporates that are either sponsoring the teams or looking to combine IPL with business meetings or offsites for their employees,” said SOTC senior vice president (special tours) P Srinivas. There are some bookings from individual cricket buffs and their families, he added. SOTC is one of the tour operators offering special packages for the IPL series.
The price war between various tour operators has ensured that a three-night trip to Johannesburg ranges from Rs 44,900 - 49,000 per person and includes accommodation, match tickets, visa charges, breakfast, air fare and match venue transfers. The same trip would have earlier cost anywhere between Rs 65,000 and Rs 90,000.
Most travellers are opting for 3 night/4 day trips, with some individual travellers even choosing a single-day package to watch the final. The demand for semi-finals and finals is the highest. Tour operators believe there could be a last-minute rush for tickets as IPL frenzy gains momentum. A cricket buff wishing to watch the semi-finals and final (May 22-24) will have to shell out at least Rs 63,500 per person, including match tickets, accommodation, transport, breakfast, air tickets and visa processing charges.
South African Airways (SAA) is flying the bigger Airbus 340 aircraft especially for IPL and is providing direct connectivity between the two countries.
15/04/09 Meenakshi Verma Ambwani & Chanchal Pal Chauhan/Economic Times

Read More

Air Arabia announces low fares to several destinations

New Delhi: Gulf carrier Air Arabia on Monday launched special holiday fares from India to Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Jordan for the upcoming holiday season to woo domestic travellers.
Several international carriers, including Air India, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines have already launched promotional fares for the summer season to various places in the Gulf, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.
On its part, Air Arabia today announced low fare of Rs 18,525 to Egypt, Rs 23,085 to Turkey, Rs 19,950 to Jordan and Rs 22,088 to Kenya. It would launch services to Athens from April 21 and is offering a special return fare of Rs 25,223 to travellers from India.
While all fares are inclusive of taxes and surcharges, they exclude airport user fees, service tax and agency handling charges, Air Arabia's spokesperson said here.
The airline is also offering return fares of Rs 10,973 to the UAE making an international holiday almost as affordable as a domestic one. The airline offers its customers from India free hotel and car assistance and a baggage allowance of 30 kilos. Passengers can also avail of reduced hotel fares and sightseeing tours when they book tickets on their website.
13/04/09 PTI/The Hindu

Read More

Air Arabia woos Indian fliers

New Delhi: Sharjah-based budget airline Air Arabia today announced lucrative packages for its Indian passengers to travel to Greece, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf region this summer.
Apart from the new competitive return fare of Rs 10,973 between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the airline is also offering discounts for its Indian passengers on their hotel stay in the Gulf country and other perks like car assistance, free baggage up to 30 kg and sightseeing tours.
"We have introduced special holiday fares from our Indian destinations to our international network destinations. We have return fares as low as Rs.18,525 to Egypt, Rs.23,085 to Turkey, Rs.19,950 to Jordan and Rs.22,088 to Kenya," the airline said in a statement.
All fares are inclusive of taxes and surcharges, but exclusive of airport user fees, service tax and agency handling charges, it said.
Air Arabia will also launch services to Athens (Greece) from April 21 and is offering a special return fare of Rs.25,223 on the route.
Currently Air Arabia flies from its hub in Sharjah to Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Kochi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Kozhikode and Delhi.
The airline is also scheduled to launch its service to Goa from April 16.
14/04/09 Times of India

Read More

KLM eyes tie-ups with Kingfisher, Jet

Amsterdam: Amid the constrained financial scenario, KLM is betting big on India through affiliations with local carriers. The airline is in talks with Kingfisher and Jet Airways to serve secondary markets in India. “We want to cater to about 10 destinations in the secondary market,” Michel Fijgerberg, network planner (North Atlantic and India), said. KLM’s official website had nearly a million visitors from India in FY09 and the group sees this as proof of growing interest in the Dutch airline.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the hub of KLM, is used more as a transit point than a destination. “Only 26% of passengers alighting in Schiphol stay in the Netherlands. With such a small home market, connecting traffic is the key,” said Mr Fijgerberg.
KLM used to operate daily flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. However, these were terminated in February this year due to sustained losses on the routes. The company, however, still sees potential in cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, and is trying to rope in local carriers. However, the possibility of any announcement this year seems distant. “The talks are at very immature level, so we can’t disclose any details now,” Pieter de Man, GM for KLM’s operations in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, said.
KLM is gung ho about the strength of the Indian economy. Said Asia Pacific senior VP Marnix Fruitema: “India would bounce back faster than Europe and the US.”
And, consequently, future developments would be positive for Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India.”
“..Delhi and Mumbai would be explored more in spite of flying to new destinations,” said Mr Fruitema.
14/04/09 Bhuwan Bhaskar/Economic Times

Read More

Turkey's Celebi wins in Delhi cargo airport tender

Istanbul:Turkey's airport ground services provides Celebi (CLEBI.IS) won a tender for modernisation of New Delhi city's Indra Gandhi airport, the company said in a filing with the stock exchange on Tuesday.
The filing said the airport is the second biggest cargo airport in India, where it said the air transport sector has been growing fast in recent years.
14/04/09 Reuters

Read More

Spurt in foreign airlines rights worry desi ones

New Delhi: It's now the turn of the struggling domestic aviation industry to seek protectionism from mega global airlines that have flooded Indian market with flights and dirt cheap fares. While the common traveller is not complaining, desi carriers have approached the aviation ministry and voiced their concern over the massive increase in foreign airlines' entitlement to fly to India.
In last five years (2004-08), foreign airlines' capacity has increased 240% from about 3 crore to nearly 8 crore one-way seats per annum. The biggest cause of worry, which is threatening domestic airlines' survival, is the fact that the big airlines are no longer offering point to point flights between India and their home bases. Places like Dubai, Singapore, Vienna and London have become Indian travellers' gateways to the world on airlines from these countries.
Indian airlines pointed out that the objective of traffic rights is to ensure sufficient capacity for point to point traffic between one country and the other. "In the absence of adequate country to country traffic and good hub airports in India, Indian carriers cannot fully use their entitlements. Gulf carriers like Emirates, Gulf Air, Qatar and Etihad have been using their Indian capacity primarily to carry traffic between India and US, UK, Europe, Africa and Australia over their hubs," said an official. Southeast and European carriers also follow the same pattern of operations.
The aviation ministry is aware of the growing might of foreign carriers and the damage it is inflicting on desi ones but can do little about that.
13/04/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Indian carriers looking more attractive to airports

As more countries recognise the growth potential of the Indian and Chinese markets, airports around the world are opening their doors to Indian carriers.
One country which is wooing them includes Copenhagen which has said it is willing to give Indian carriers five year discounts on landing and passenger charges if they increase tourist arrivals.
According to Hindu Business Line, Dallas Fort Worth is planning to give carriers from India the opportunity to tap into two sectors that reign supreme in Texas, the visiting friends and relatives and business sectors.
Even Australia is getting in on the act, with Brisbane airport introducing a ‘pay for numbers’ scheme to carriers, where they only pay for the numbers they carry rather than the weight of the aircraft.
Moscow is also keen, with a spokesman for Moscow International Airport saying that the time was right due to the increasing amount of Indian projects developing in Russia.
Currently, Air India Express is currently being considered to operate flights to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Company, according to Director Tammy Tan.
Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India are also some Indian carriers being considered on international routes.
13/04/09 eTravelBlackBoard

Read More

Hasn went hunting in Texas before India trip

Mumbai: US national Henry Hasn (45) who was arrested at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport for allegedly carrying seven live cartridges in his jacket pocket told police officials that he might have forgotten to remove the bullets from the jacket before leaving Texas for India.
Hasn, an electronics engineer, mentioned in his statement that on March 11, prior to his leaving for India on March 12, he had gone out hunting in Texas.
The bullets that were seized by the CISF at the airport have been handed over to the Sahar police.
"The bullets found in Hasn's possession are .22 bore bullets that are similar to those he used to hunt animals. He has a licence to keep pistols used for hunting and regular ones as well...,'' said inspector Nitin Yadav of Sahar police station. From Mumbai, he left for Hyderabad to work at the Rajahmundry oil rig for four weeks. Yadav said it was shocking that Hasn managed to clear two security checks in Texas and the second one in Amsterdam before reaching Mumbai.
13/04/09 V Narayan/Times of India

Read More

Saffron seized from air passenger

Malappuram: The Air Customs Intelligence unit at the Karipur International Airport here today seized seven kg of saffron from a passenger who arrived by an Air India Express flight from Dubai.
The passenger, Abdul Khader Ibraim of Bedira in Kerala's Kasargode district, had been detained for interrogation, Air Customs sources said.
The saffron was found concealed in his baggage in 14 packets of 500 gm each. It was suspected to be of Iranian origin and estimated to fetch Rs 13 lakh in the international market, they said.
13/04/09 Indopia

Read More

Lufthansa Launches Indian Wedding Celebration Campaign

New York: Wedding bells ring louder each day as the season for wedlock begins. This union will exude class as two style icons, Manish Malhotra and Lufthansa Airlines, ally for a wedding couture with ethnic blends. Designed by the style icon, the ensembles are a celebration of the myriad emotions experienced by the bride and groom tying the knot. The fairytale Indian Bridal collection unveils three wedding ensembles for the to-be brides and grooms in the United States.
To craft this unforgettable wedding season, Manish is in collaboration the world-class airline, Lufthansa. "I wanted to introduce contemporary Indian fashion in America and Lufthansa was an ideal partner, since they regularly do Bollywood-themed promotions," says Manish. This association with Lufthansa is an opportunity for Indians in America to win outfits from Manish Malhotra's collection.
For the man who personifies style, teaming up with a luxurious airline to unravel his couture wedding range is a venture which has never been done before. Mediasphere, a leading marketing and event management firm, juxtaposed fashion with air-travel in association with Global Advertising Strategies for South Asians planning their Indian Wedding in America.
The prestigious designer observes, "Working with Mediasphere has been a pleasure since they deliver high quality work. They are a young, hardworking and highly professional media company, which has efficiently added boost to my brand."
Manish's wedding range is enthralling all the future brides and grooms envisaging the most precious event of their life. The design sketches are open for voting now www.Lufthansawedding.com. Vote for your favorite design and post your romantic story to win the most popular wardrobe. Other prizes include tickets to India on Lufthansa Airlines.
13/04/09 Manish Malhotra/EarthTimes

Read More

American nabbed with cartridges at airport

Mumbai: The Sahar Airport police here arrested Henry H. Han on Saturday after he was found carrying seven live cartridges while trying to board an aircraft. The electrical maintenance engineer was on his way to the U.S. The cartridges were of .22 calibre, used to kill animals, the police said.
He was brought to the police station at 3.15 am.
According to the police, Han said the cartridges were left in his pocket by mistake. His purpose in coming to India and the duration of his stay are being probed.
A resident of Texas, he is employed by Transocean, an offshore drilling company. He was visiting Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh. The police booked him under the Indian Arms act.
12/04/09 The Hindu

Read More

International air fares dip as fuel prices, corporate travel decline

New Delhi:A combination of declining corporate travel and southward movement in global prices of aviation turbine fuel – with crude oil prices falling from $140 a barrel to around $50 now – is seeing the market get flooded with rock-bottom basic airfares.
For instance, Air India is offering a return ticket between Mumbai and New York at about Rs 45,000 now — down from Rs 70,000 earlier. Between Hyderabad and Dubai, Emirates Airlines has a ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offer for Rs 30,000.
Then, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is offering a basic return fare of Rs 6,490 between Mumbai and London, or you can fly with Air India on the same sector for Rs 6,900. But before reaching for your wallet, remember that the final fare on Etihad will be around Rs 22,500 while a seat on the Maharaja will cost you Rs 2,400 more. Likewise, Thai Airways is offering a basic fare of Rs 23,935 which eventually comes to about Rs 41,000 along with taxes on the Mumbai-Australia route.
The Vice-President, Free Individual Traveller, Cox and Kings, Mr Ashutosh Mehere, feels that the current levels of international airfares are about 20 per cent lower than their earlier highest. And unlike in the past, this time most airlines are keeping a lot more seats open for bookings at these low fares.
Sources add that another reason for such low fares being available on some routes is the decision of the UPA Government to be liberal in exchanging air services bilaterals with a number of countries during its five years in office.
It was during the UPA Government’s time that an open sky agreement was signed with the US which allowed airlines of each country to operate as many flights a week as they wanted.
11/04/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Read More

Egypt woos Indian private airlines

Kolkata: Egypt is trying to woo private Indian airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher by providing tax concessions and wants them to connect Cairo, the capital of Egypt, to boost bilateral ties with India.
"Air India had flights to Cairo, but it was discontinued since the 1970s. We want to attract private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher and use Kolkata as a hub," Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed Higazy said in an interactive session with the Merchants Chamber of Commerce today.
"We will provide tax concessions and exemptions on various counts to attract the airlines," he said.
Presently, only Mumbai is connected with Cairo by a few airlines, including National Egyptian Airways, and Egpyt wished to extend it to Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore or Chennai.
10/04/09 PTI/Times of India

Read More

TASC Aviation cements spare parts deal

Dubai-based solutions firm TASC Aviation has agreed a contract that will ensure easier access to Airbus spare parts for customers in the Middle East, Africa and India.
The deal, with AAR Corp’s Aviation Supply Chain division, will position critical spare parts, OEM accessories, rotables and various other materials within TASC’s premises in Dubai.
“This agreement is a first milestone in what we believe to be a long-term business relationship with AAR and this will allow our customers primarily in the Middle East, Africa and the Subcontinent region to benefit from TASC's existing spare parts stock and those to be provided by AAR,” said Ezzedine Hamouda, CEO of TASC Aviation.
“From now onwards customers are free to choose the option which more suits their current needs and select between purchase, exchange or loan options. We are confident that in the months to come, we will be able to offer pooling option as well,” Hamouda added.
11/04/09 Edward Attwood/arabian SUPPLY CHAIN.com

Read More

Jet Airways plans new flights to Dubai

Mumbai: Starting April 23, private airline Jet Airways will launch two new services to Dubai from Mumbai and Chennai in an effort to tap one of the few remaining profitable international sectors for Indian air carriers.
The airline’s introduction of a new mid-day service from Chennai as well as a second flight from Mumbai departing in the morning comes at a time when the air carrier has been rationalising its other international routes because of the global downturn.
The airline in January discontinued its recently launched flight from Mumbai to Shanghai and San Francisco. International traffic to the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia has been badly hit by the recession, with several airlines cancelling flights and rationalising routes. Traffic to West Asia has also been affected, analysts say, but remains one of the few sectors where air carriers might find some relief.
“It seems that this region has in some sense withstood the crisis, at least relatively,” said D. Sudhakara Reddy, president of the Air Passengers’ Association of India.
Mr. Reddy said while airlines had been pulling out flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, cancellations on West Asian routes had been rare.
“Emirates even increased flights last year, and no airline has significantly reduced its frequency. It’s good for passengers, as fares are coming down,” he said.
The new services were introduced to match the high passenger demand in this sector, Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said in a statement. Jet Airways already operates two daily flights to Dubai, from Mumbai and New Delhi.
11/04/09 Ananth Krishnan/The Hindu

Read More

Pak-based prankster sent threat mails: cops

Mumbai: Sources in the Mumbai Police on Thursday revealed that investigations into the terror e-mails received by the Taj Mahal Hotel and Air India building in the city as well as by the Taj group-run Fisherman’s Cove resort on the outskirts of Chennai, point to a common prankster based in Pakistan.
On Monday, Air India received an e-mail threat on an official e-mail address warning of a terror attack and the airline immediately forwarded the e-mail to the Mumbai Police. While the e-mail sparked off speculation that the Air India headquarters at Nariman Point was under threat, there was no specific threat to the airline mentioned in the e-mail.
Sources revealed that the latest e-mail read ¿ ‘Hi, namaste...Today Mumbai airport will be blasted by suicide attack, just wait. I am the master mind of Taj Hotel blast.’
“We are firmly of the opinion that all three terror e-mails are hoaxes. Investigations tend to suggest that these were all sent out by the same person,” said a senior police official, who did not wish to be named. According to the police, investigations have revealed that latest e-mail threat was sent from the alternative e-mail id listed by the sender while setting up the e-mail account from which the first set of terror mails were sent.
“While the first two e-mails sent out to the Taj properties were traced to an IP (Internet Protocol) address in Islamabad, the latest e-mail has been traced to a location in Lahore. The first set of e-mails was sent from the e-mail id indianagentshubham@yahoo.com with alternate e-mail id indianagentarvind@yahoo.com, the e-mail received by Air India was sent from e-mail id indiangentarvind@yahoo.com,” said the official.
10/04/09 Express India

Read More

Oman national gets 5 yrs for hiding explosives in shoes

Mumbai: An Oman national, who was intercepted at the Sahar airport last year for carrying explosive substances inside the heels of two pairs of shoes, was convicted by a sessions court to five years' rigorous imprisonment on Wednesday. The court also levied a fine of Rs 1,000 on the accused Ali Hadi Badar Nassar Mohammad (29).
According to the prosecution, Mohammad was to board a flight (WI 808) to Muscat on July 23, 2008, when officers at the baggage screening counter detected firecrackers in his luggage. The crackers were placed in a polythene bag. Air India security staff, who were screening the baggage, removed the polythene bag as it is illegal to carry explosive substances in an aircraft. However, an officer realised that the scanner detected more explosive substances than were found. He immediately informed the Sahar police who searched Mohammad's baggage thoroughly. They came across four shoes with unusually large heels. They were broken open to reveal 68 explosive substances including two sound crackers, small silver foil-coated bombs, anar and sutli bombs (firecrackers). Mohammad was booked under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Aircraft Act.
During interrogation, Mohammad told the police that he had first visited India in 1992. In 2000, he went to Thailand. Then, he came back to India in 2003 and again in 2006. In 2008, he travelled to five Indian cities in a span of 21 days. The officials found his movements suspicious. On July 22, he picked up a consignment of explosive substances from a person in Mumbai.
Mohammad told the police that two men in Muscat had asked him to bring the consignment. He added that he had travelled to different Indian cities for medical treatment but the police could not find any hospital records.
Mohammad's counsel, Majeed Memon, said his client had a mental ailment and they would appeal in the HC.
10/04/09 Nitasha Natu/Times of India

Read More

Flight service from Tiruchi to Abu Dhabi from April 30

Tiruchi: Low-cost carrier Air India Express will introduce a twice-a-week service on the Chennai-Tiruchi-Abu Dhabi sector from April 30.
Abu Dhabi will be the third foreign destination to be linked from Tiruchi by the airline. The new service would be in addition to AI Express’ flights to Dubai and Singapore from here. The airline recently increased the frequency of its flights on the Chennai-Tiruchi-Dubai sector. It operates 14 flights a week to Singapore and seven flights a week to Dubai.
The Chennai-Tiruchi-Abu Dhabi flights (IX 613/614) would be operated on Thursdays and Saturdays, sources told The Hindu. The flight will depart Chennai at 12.50 p.m., arrive here at 1.40 p.m and leave for Abu Dhabi at 2.30 p.m. In the return direction, it will arrive from Abu Dhabi at 11.55 p.m., depart for Chennai at 12.50 a.m. to reach Chennai at 1.40 a.m.
The introduction of the service comes in the wake of a good demand, airline sources said pointing out that many travellers were taking the Dubai flight and drive down from there to Abu Dhabi. Otherwise, they take a connecting flight from Colombo to Abu Dhabi.
10/04/09 S Ganesan/The Hindu

Read More

Lankan nationals deported to city

Hyderabad: Four Sri Lankan nationals were deported to Hyderabad on Wednesday by immigration authorities at the Dubai airport after one of them was found travelling on the passport of another person. All the four are related and three of them have valid passports of UK and France.
Shamshabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) sub-inspector Sarath Kumar said that all the four came to India on a touri s t visa during February and March.
The four are Prabaran Suganthi (30), a Sri Lankan national, Gajanesan Narsipillian (27) of UK and Sutchagini (30) and Shivayogi Lechimi (70), both from France.
According to police, the UK and French nationals tried to take Prabaran Suganthi to France by affixing her photograph on an original passport belonging to a person from France.
09/04/09 ExpressBuzz

Read More

Kerala IT firm gets two more foreign airline clients

Thiruvananthapuram: Later this year, Air New Zealand and Austrian Airlines will start using iCargo CRA, a revenue accounting solution for cargo carrying airlines developed by the city-based IBS Software Services.
“iCargo CRA is built on proven new-generation technology and application architecture. Being a cost-effective and simple to implement solution, it can be easily interfaced to effectively work with any airline cargo system,” the Technopark-headquartered IBS said in a statement.
The company said the “success saga” of iCargo began in April 2008 as Japan’s Nippon Cargo Airlines opted for the solution.
Now, India’s leading private carrier Kingfisher Airlines and Kazakhstan’s Air Astana have also begun using iCargo.Low-cost Indian airline SpiceJet recently began using IBS’ new generation cargo management system, iCargo Lite.
10/04/09 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

Read More

Lufthansa starts freighter services to Hyderabad

Chennai/Hyderabad: Lufthansa Cargo AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa German Airlines, has started a weekly two-way freighter flight to Hyderabad from Frankfurt. The new flight augments the capacities already available on Lufthansa passenger flights.
According to Lufthansa Cargo regional manager (India and Middle East), Carsten Hernig, the German airline is the first to offer freighter service to Hyderabad. "With the new connections we can offer our customers very special routings to other fast growing markets," he said.
Though Lufthansa Cargo had been affected by the current recession, Hernig said its Indian operations were not impacted by “major adjustments of our flight schedules.”
Stating that India was still one of the most dynamic markets with high growth potential, he said Lufthansa's Chinese joint venture, Jade Cargo International, would also begin regular freighter services for the first time between China, India and Africa from April 15. The twice weekly flights from Shanghai would be routed through Shenzhen to Chennai and then via Sharjah to Lagos in Nigeria.
“With a lot of pharmaceutical products moving into the African continent, the new connection will benefit Hyderabad,” Hernig said at an event organised here to celebrate the launch of freighter service.
Chief executive officer of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), PS Nair, said another international airline, Cathay Pacific, was also keen on starting freighter flights to the Rajiv Gandhi airport.
08/04/09 Business Standard

Read More

Agents-Sing Air fight intensifies

Mumbai: The travel agents' dissent with Singapore Airlines over payment of commission intensified, with the agents' associations deciding to return their authority to issue its tickets, while also punishing members who issue them.
About 1,000 of the 1,350 registered International Air Travel Association (IATA) agents who can issue Singapore Airlines tickets have surrendered their authority. The associations are persuading the remaining 350 to follow suit.
However, the possibility of an indefinite strike against all international carriers, which are following Singapore Airline in not giving them 5% commission, was ruled out by two unions, the Travel Agents Association of India (Taai) and Travel Agents Fraternity of India (Tafi).
"We are talking to the remaining agents, persuading them to be a part of the protest and those who still agree to issue Singapore Airlines tickets will be boycotted," said Ajay Prakash, national secretary, Tafi. "Once an association boycotts an agent, the agent will not be admitted to any associations hereafter and a resolution has already been taken on this," he added.
The six travel agents associations, including Taai, Tafi and IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) have 2,876 IATA registered agents.
09/04/09 Archana Shukla/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

Indian travel agents surrender capping letters to Singapore Airlines

Mumbai: In a significant development to the 102-day and still going withdrawal from Singapore Airlines (SQ) on the issue of agency commissions, the Travel Agents Fraternity of India yesterday surrendered their capping letter to the airline. The capping letters were surrendered by 1,000 agents on a pan-India level in various key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and others where SQ has its presence. In Mumbai, around 200-plus and in Bangalore more than 120 capping letters were surrendered at the airline’s office. Pradip Lulla, President, TAFI said, “We have just surrendered 200 capping letters to Singapore Airlines and the situation remains the same as it was. We will be happy to sell SQ tickets again as soon as SQ accedes to our legitimate demands i.e agency commissions.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Iqbal Mulla, Treasurer, TAAI stated, “Surrendering our ticket capping does not mean that we don’t want to work with Singapore Airlines. We want to work with them commercially; however we need our legitimate demand of five per cent commissions.” Travel Agents Fraternity of India comprise 2,864 IATA accredited agents and about 50,000 non-IATA agents. Of the 2,864 IATA-accredited agents, not all agents have the authority to sell Singapore Airlines tickets or tickets of any other carrier. “Approximately 1,300 agents are authorised to sell SQ tickets, of which 1,000 have surrendered their capping letters,” said Ajay Prakash, National General Secretary, TAFI, adding that, the DGCA looks into matters related to aviation but travel agents issues are completely ignored. There is a dire need for a regulatory body from the government to look into travel agents issues as close to 85 per cent of the airline business is done by the travel agents.
09/04/09 Krupa Vora/TravelBizMonitor

Read More

Air Sylhet on int'l routes

Air Sylhet PCL, a leading private sector airline in UK, has launched its flight on the international routes.
Air Sylhet was established by non-resident Bangladeshis live in England on February 28 in 2007.
Air Sylhet started operation of its maiden passenger-flight styled 'Boeing 757' on April 04, said a press release.
The first Birmingham-Amritashar flight of the airline left Birmingham to Amritashar of India at 6:30pm on Saturday via Vienna.
The aircraft of Airline would run between Birmingham, UK and Amritashar, India via Vienna initially.
On the inaugural day of its maiden passenger-flight to international routes, the authorities of the Air Sylhet organised a press conference on the Birmingham International Airport on Saturday noon.
Chairman of Air Sylhet Kabir Khan, Vice Chairman Shahab Uddin, Director (Finance) Selim Uddin, Director (Community relations) KM Abu Taher Chowdhury, Director (Retail and Sales) ASM Enam Ur Rahman, Director (Investment) Mohammad Ali Salik, Director Suruk Mia and Bangladesh-Representative of the Air Sylhet Prof Omar Faruk, and Chairman of Greater Sylhet Council in UK Manshab Ali and Joint Secretary of the council Khasru Khan, and British-Bangladeshi Community leaders Foyzur Rahman Chowdhury and Arzu Mia, among others, were present in the inaugural function.
08/04/09 The New Nation, Bangladesh

Read More

Air India A320 at Dubai on Apr 8th 2009, engine failure

The crew of an Air India Airbus A320-200, registration VT-EPC performing flight IC-906 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Chennai (India), declared emergency reporting they had to shut an engine down in flight due to compressor stalls and proceeded into a holding off the coast to burn off fuel. The airplane landed safely back to Dubai about 100 minutes after takeoff.
08/04/09 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald

Read More

Kingfisher Air delays Thai plan

India's Kingfisher Airlines has delayed its debut flights to Bangkok planned for this month, citing aircraft availability constraints.
The five-star carrier planned to offer daily services from its base in Bangalore to Bangkok in March, using Airbus A321 jetliners. But it was split between mobilising its capacity to support the growing home market, or to expand internationally, eventually opting for the former, an insider said.
The carrier began flights on five new new domestic routes _ between Mumbai and Vadodara, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad-Aurangabad and Bangalore-Kozhikode _ on March 29.
Kingfisher remains keen to launch regular services to Thailand, though these are likely to be delayed until late-October. Flights will link Bangkok with Mumbai, instead of Bangalore, and later with Kolkata, the air-traffic routes between Thailand and India.
The uncertainty has put Success Aviation, Kingfisher's general sales agent in Bangkok, and Bangkok Flight Services, which was contracted to provide ground services at Suvarnabhumi, in limbo.
Dubai faces similar uncertainty after the carrier recently delayed services between the two countries by three months.
Kingfisher had been operating for just three years when it launched its maiden international flight between Bangalore and London in September 2008.
09/04/09 Boonsong Kositchotethana/Bangkok Post, Thailand

Read More

I'm innocent, claims Guinness heiress quizzed over 'drunken jet romp' with model's boyfriend

A society beauty has been arrested by armed police - after allegedly enjoying a sexual liaison with a fellow passenger on a jumbo jet.
Clare Irby, 29, who is a descendant of the Guinness family, is said to have performed a sex act on the boyfriend of another passenger while the woman slept in the next seat.
Sarah Hannon, a 35-year-old model, awoke to allegedly discover Daniel Melia and Miss Irby in a clinch beside her.
The pair were spotted under a blanket by the cabin crew, who tried to intervene.
A heated argument is then alleged to have ensued between the two women, while cabin crew tried to calm the situation.
The plane was boarded by armed police officers at Heathrow who met the flight - Kingfisher Airlines Flight IT001 - when it landed. They arrested all three passengers involved.
Miss Irby, a former stockbroker and mother of one, was questioned on suspicion of gross indecency, being drunk on an aircraft and failing to obey the instructions of the crew.
She was then released on bail, along with Miss Hannon and 36-year-old Mr Melia, who live in Birmingham.
Miss Irby's father, Old Etonian banker Paul Aschan, is descended from the Guinness brewers and her stepfather is the grandson of a baron.
Her late grandfather Robert Henderson was chairman of private bank Kleinwort Benson.
Miss Irby herself was educated at Heathfield School in Worcestershire and says on her page on Facebook, the social networking website, that she has worked as a teacher and backstage at shows during London Fashion week.
Yesterday Miss Irby was lying low at her luxury flat in Fulham, West London, and refusing to talk about the incident. She said: 'I've taken legal advice and been told not to comment on this.'
But a family member said earlier: 'Clare is a wreck, she's devastated. There was no sex. The whole thing is untrue. She is not that sort of person.'
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Police attended a flight into Heathrow regarding behaviour of passengers on board at about 6pm on Thursday, March 26.
08/04/09 Daily Mail, UK

Read More

Agents harden stand against airline

Mumbai: The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) on Tuesday said all travel agents had decided to surrender their capping letters of Singapore Airlines
The TAAI office-bearers will surrender the letters to the Singapore Airlines’ offices on April 8, followed by all other members during the course of the week.
A TAAI statement said the other members had submitted the capping letters to their TAAI chapters.
A capping letter is a document given by the airlines authorising an agent to book the airlines’ tickets. No travel agent in the country will now book Singapore Airlines ticket.
TAAI has over 2,300 active allied and associate members, comprising IATA accredited travel agencies, airlines and general sales agencies, hotels and tour operators.
The 100-day standoff between TAAI and Singapore Airlines since December 29, 2008, followed the airlines imposing a “Zero Commission” fee structure for the agents. Unlike in developed markets where Internet booking accounts for a large chunk of ticket booking, about 85 per cent of the tickets booked in India are through travel agents.
While 3-4 per cent book through the Internet for international travel, a little over 15 per cent use the Net for domestic travel bookings.
08/04/09 The Hindu

Read More

Red Sky in talks with AAI for Trichy airport maintenance

Mumbai: The Indian arm of the Belfast (Northern Ireland)-based property maintenance and contracting service provider, Red Sky, is in negotiations with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to secure the annual maintenance contract of Trichy airport in Tamil Nadu.
"We are in a negotiation bid for the annual airport maintenance work of the Trichy Airport with the Airports Authority of India," Red Sky Property Services Managing Director Christie Cherian told PTI here today.
The company is hopeful of securing the contract in the next two months, Cherian said.
Red Sky currently maintains around 1.5 million square metres of area across South India, he said.
08/04/09 PTI/Business Standard

Read More

IndiGo lines up marketing alliance with foreign carrier

New Delhi: IndiGo, the country’s largest low-cost airline by market share, has shown an interest in entering into a marketing alliance with a foreign carrier. The Delhi-based carrier recently wrote to civil aviation ministry seeking its permission to enter into code-share agreement with international carriers, a government official said. IndiGo has fast increased its market share simultaneously maintaining a load factor considered the best in the industry.
The airline is in talks with South African Airways (SAA), South Africa’s flag carrier, for a possible tie-up, following its aborted attempt to partner with Virgin Airlines, a person close to the development said. A detailed questionnaire to the airline remained unanswered. Code sharing with an international carrier will enable IndiGo to sell foreign destinations on its reservation system.
The aviation ministry has given its go-ahead to the private carrier. In a recently-framed guideline, the ministry has said that notwithstanding the present eligibility criteria for flying abroad, code-shares by Indian scheduled carriers as marketing airline can be entered into with foreign airlines for international operations.
“The present eligibility criteria for domestic airlines to fly international will, however, continue as approved by the Cabinet in 2004,” an official said.
07/04/09 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

Read More

HAL hands over first rear fuselage for Gulfstream G-150 aircraft to IAI

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Tuesday strengthened its position as a leading aerospace export house when it handed over the first rear fuselage for the Gulfstream (G-150) aircraft to Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).
HAL Chairman Mr Ashok Nayak handed over the documents of the HAL-built Aft (rear) fuselage for G-150 to Mr Shlomi Karako, General Manager, Business Jets Division, IAI, at a simple function at HAL’s Aircraft Division in Bangalore. Gulfstream (G-150) is a business executive aircraft built in Israel and transported to the United States for further furnishing. The G-150 is marketed the world over by the US-based Gulfstream Corporation.
The Aircraft Division has made a mark on the international export map over the years by supplying several types of door assemblies to Boeing, Airbus and other global firms. “With the G-150 fuselage delivery HAL has now entered a fairly advanced manufacturing level of building major structural assemblies for global players in the civil sector. The G-150 project augurs well not only for HAL, but also for the national objective of producing a civil aircraft of international standards,” Mr Ashok Nayak said.
He also attributed the success of the project to the involvement of the private sector and expressed hope that the Company would bag more orders in the future. “The G-150 programme has given us huge confidence in taking up bigger challenges. We are now looking forward to the G-250 programme and we have made our strong presence felt in the bidding process. HAL-IAI has a time-tested partnership and we are here to capitalize on the vast potential in the business jet market,” Mr Nayak added.
HAL’s ability to deliver the G-150 fuselage on time came in for praise from the strong contingent of IAI officials.
07/04/09 Frontier India

Read More

Second sales office in India launched by Bahrain Air

Bahrain Air, a private national carrier located in Bahrain and the first Premium service carrier with affordable fares, operating within MENA countries and to the Indian Sub-Continent, officially launched its Kozhikode city sales office for its customers following the successful launch of its service to Kozhikode the second destination in India on 3rd April 2009.
Mr. BK Majmudar, Bahrain Air's Director Corporate Planning & Commercial Operations cut the ceremonial ribbon and opened its services in the presence of Mr. Aziz Al Shaer, Bahrain Air's Manager Security & Corporate Affairs, Mr. JP Sing Bahrain Air's General Sales Agent (GSA), number of local Travel Agents Directors and the local media.
Bahrain Air's office is conveniently located at the heart of Calicut's Main City Center.
07/04/09 AME Info, UAE

Read More

Business Council joins the fight for Bimringham-India air link

The West Midlands Business Council has joined the fight to restore direct non-stop air links between Birmingham and India.
The city was left without a straight link to India after the country’s national carrier dropped the route to Amritsar at the end of last year. Air India had been hoping to return to Birmingham International Airport this spring, but instead had to focus on its routes out of Heathrow.
The business community in the West Midlands has been lobbying the Indian government to change competition laws that stop any other firms moving in to run the route instead.
The West Midlands Business Council has written to Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, the High Commissioner for India, to protest about the situation.
In his letter to the High Commissioner, WMBC executive director James Watkins said the West Midlands business community warmly welcomed closer business links with India. He said: “Since 2006, more than 1,500 jobs have been created by 16 Indian companies.
“There are now over 30 Indian owned businesses in the West Midlands region, such as Tata Motors, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Aditya Birla.
07/04/09 Tom Scotney/Birmingham Post, UK

Read More

Buy airline ticket for $10 during 'Happy Hour'

Dubai: Shopping online for an airline ticket is set to go to another level with a regional airline offering a "Happy Hour" price of as little as 3 Kuwaiti Dinars (USD 10.3).
Kuwait and Dubai based low fares airline Jazeera Airways today launched the Jazeera Airways Happy Hour on its website, offering a special offer daily on a selected number of routes, from 1.00pm to 2.00pm Kuwait time, seven days a week for the next 365 days.
To kick off today's Happy Hour; passengers can book fares from just 3 KD one way on jazeeraairways.com between 1.00pm and 2.00pm, to a selected number of the airline's 29 destinations including Dubai, Mumbai and Sharm El Sheikh.
New Happy Hour fares on a variety of routes will be available daily, for travel periods that range right up to the end of the Jazeera's published schedule, the statement said.
06/04/09 PTI/Economic Times

Read More

Passengers miss connecting flight, Kuwait Airlines to compensate for delay

Chandigarh: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Kuwait Airlines to pay a compensation of Rs 70,000 for causing mental harassment to a couple during their journey from New Delhi to Frankfurt.
The complainants, Col D S Bindra and his wife Satinder, residents of Sector 46, had booked their tickets from New Delhi to Frankfurt in 2007 through Thomas Cook India Ltd. They were scheduled to travel by Kuwait Airlines on April 11, 2007. The flight was scheduled to leave Delhi at 5.55 in the morning but it got delayed and left New Delhi at 7.35 am. Owing to the delay, the complainants missed their connecting flight from Kuwait to Frankfurt.
The complainants landed at Kuwait airport at 9.30 am and were kept waiting till 1 pm with an assurance that they would be sent to Frankfurt directly by a Lufthansa Airlines flight. The Kuwait Airlines authorities then asked them to check into a hotel as their departure through Lufthansa Airlines could not materialise.
The next day, the complainants claimed that were informed that instead of going to Frankfurt directly, they would have to go to Rome by a Kuwait Airlines flight. After reaching Rome, they were handed two transit slips of Alitalia Express for their journey to Frankfurt.
Adding to their woes, the complainants found their names in the waiting list. Finally, when they reached Frankfurt, they found that their daughter had already left for their home as they had not reached through the scheduled flight.
Kuwait Airlines pleaded that due to an unforeseen technical snag in the aircraft, the flight had to be delayed for rectification of the problem, which led to the scheduled time for departure being extended by two hours due to which the complainants missed their connecting flight from Kuwait to Frankfurt.
07/04/09 Express India

Read More